YATS 30: App Envy

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“How many fart apps do you really need?”

It’s time for another great episode of Yet Another Tech Show! Can you believe we are THIRTY EPISODES in? Thanks for checking out the show this week, and thank you for the continued support of our show. We have a full house of tech evangelists with Mike Rothman now back in town joining Larry Press, Mat Lee and myself. By the way, I’m Ant Pruitt. This week we’re joined by a special guest host, Patrick Jordan, of iPad Insight and iSource. We welcome and thank Patrick for joining us this week for obvious reasons as we’ll discuss in the show. Be sure to check out all of our social media connections to view other content we share as well as other mindless banter between ourselves and our listeners. On a side note, just overlook how different my voice sounds in the show. Do not adjust your speakers.

First off, happy birthday wishes were shared to our super producer Mat Lee. If you want to send him a late birthday present, there’s a PO Box here. Ok, enough of the warm and fuzzies.

This week is a big tech news week. Apple unveiled new products including a new 13-inch Macbook Pro laptop with retina display, a new thinner iMac, a new iPad. Yes, I said a new (4th gen) iPad. And also announced the new iPad Mini. Patrick shared his thoughts on the announcement and what the new miniature iPad will work for. The smaller size and lighter weight, most importantly, may be his bigger selling point. No I don’t think Patrick is a wuss for complaining about the weight of the device, but he shares valid points for extended use of an iPad such as reading a book. The debate on a 7-inch device versus a 10-inch device is interesting. There’s a place for both of the devices, right? You all getting one? And what happened with “the New iPad” of the summer of 2012? Is that just a crap device now? None of us expected an upgraded iPad so soon.

The Microsoft Surface tablet and Windows 8 is hitting the stores now. The tablet device has been getting mixed reviews. The hardware and software brings up interesting debates. Microsoft has to do something to tap into the tablet market. Is this the last chance for Microsoft? We sit back and wait to see the adoption of the device as some feel this is the post-pc era. Larry makes a great point. “Is it gonna make me leave my laptop?” Larry asks. Microsoft has a strong enterprise penetration, but how will this device penetrate the enterprise world? The average consumers want a hot product and they want apps. The Windows 8 ecosystem will definitely have to beef up to get those consumers.

Here’s another side bar in the battles between Samsung and Apple. Samsung has decided to cancel its display agreement with Apple. I joke that this is Samsung throwing a jab at Apple due to previous disputes, but in reality it may be a moot point.

Cord-cutter Larry explores one of my convenient apps to see online television, Playon.TV. He wrote about his experience installing and using it. According to his write up, Playon.TV is not quite ready for primetime. Of course with cord cutting, your network speeds and hardware makes a difference in how the content will be displayed for you.

We discuss how more Android devices are getting on version 4.0 operating system. This is monumental considering the last 2-3 years of Android fans battling tech pundits arguments of “fragmentation.” Fortunately, the Android devs over at Google has displayed a passion of getting more devices on a unified operating system. There will still be skins or overlays from OEM’s and carriers, but fortunately the hardware is getting better to handle the latest version of Android. Check out my tech write up here on aNewDomain.

Sprint unveils new no-contract data plans for 4G LTE tablets. The pricing seems interesting for these plans… for TABLETS. Sprint must believe the tablet market is ripe for a data plan. The new iPads will be able to work with this new network offered from Sprint. Patrick’s readers think this is good news as it’s another option. “I think having more options is always good,” says Patrick.

Thanks for listening to our show, YATSsquadron. Be sure to check out all of our writing over on aNewDomain and Groovypost as well as our social media connections. And no, I still do not have a facebook account. It’s not going to happen. Don’t forget to give us a rating on iTunes and subscribe to us in your podcatcher.